Distant Memory – Taking The Waters At Lake Neusiedl (The Lost Lands #49)

Once a trip spirals out of control, there is no telling where it might lead. This is the case with my itinerary for the lost lands of Hungary. Burgenland now obsesses me for reasons that I cannot quite understand. I did not see this affection coming. Burgenland is the lost land that should not be. A place that wears its post-Trianon prosperity with honor. Like the rest of Austria, the too good to be true aesthetic disturbs me. Austria is too pristine, too Disneyesque, too much of a Teutonic Truman show. Any place where I can eat off the sidewalk is a no-go zone. Everything in Austria runs as close to clockwork as humanly possible. Perhaps that is the reason why Austrians produced art and architecture that rocked the established social order several times during the 20th century. Repression makes Austrians do strange things. That is why I planned to only make a couple of obligatory stops in Burgenland before moving further south to Slovenia. Instead, I am finding a great deal worth investigating in Burgenland. The province is a sort of Austria-lite that runs counter to the country’s popular image. Forget alpine environments and pristine mountain lakes. Burgenland is an acquired taste with subtle beauty. A fine example of this is Lake Neusiedl, the next stop on my itinerary.

Lost Opportunities - Looking The Other Way

For a reason that will forever remain a mystery to me I inadvertently failed to visit Lake Neusiedl on my previous trips to Burgenland. The most likely reason is my psychological phobia involving large bodies of water. They tend to repel, rather than attract me. I was just a few kilometers from Lake Neusiedl and managed to miss it. Now the lake has become a subject of intrigue. I am scouring my memory to try and recall a fleeting glimpse of the lake. Maybe I glanced out a train or car window and noticed the silver shimmer of sunlight on water reflecting in the distance. Unfortunately, no such memory exists. The truth is that I have never seen the lake except in photographs. Nor have I stood on the lakeshore or visited the historic holiday towns that dot its perimeter. My trip through the lost lands offers the opportunity for me to correct that oversight.

The fact that I have never visited the lake baffles me. The 430 square kilometer body of water has proven elusive. Either that, or through a combination of disinterest and distraction my gaze was fixated on other less important things. When I look at a map of eastern Austria and western Hungary, I can trace the different travel routes I took through the area. On three separate occasions, I was within a few minutes by train or car of the lake and managed to miss it. Perhaps the strangest thing was that despite being a completionist who wants to see every geographic and historic point of interest possible. I did not give the lake a second thought. That is until now.

If life is something that happens when you are doing other things, then a glimpse of Lake Neusiedl should have happened while I was on the way to other places in Burgenland. While passing through the area, I was aware of the lake’s existence. That is most apparent in the crinkled pages in my copies of the Bradt Guide to Hungary and Rough Guide to Hungary. Rereading the entries for Ferto-to, the Hungarian portion of the lake, I had a recollection that I had read those same words before. If I had been looking for the lake, rather than burying my head in those guidebooks then I might have caught a glimpse. In any event, that is not what happened. Now my goal is to make up for those lost opportunities.?

Spillover Effects - A Fluid Situation

Fear of water will not hold me back from dipping my toes into Lake Neusiedl. This is not any ordinary lake. The Austrians and Hungarians who have lived close to its shores for centuries can vouch for that. The lake has disappeared and reappeared due to drought and flood. It is shallow, and broad. At my height, I will be able to stand anywhere in the lake and keep my head above the water. The average depth is just above my knees. The strong winds that come howling across its waters have made the lake a haven for windsurfers. Other parts of the shoreline are covered in reed beds which historically have been harvested for building materials. The lake also supports over three hundred bird species. None of these pastimes interest me, but visiting Lake Neusiedl does. That is because the lake is one of the most unique natural environments found on and beyond Hungary’s borders.

It is easy to look at the lost lands as terra firma. Water is a much more slippery affair. In theory, borders are supposed to be physical. The reality is that they are also liquid. Instead of stepping over the border, at Lake Neusiedl someone can swim over the border. Borders usually divide Hungary from the lost land. Lake Neusiedl unites them with Austria and the lost waters. Unlike land borders where each nation takes a side, the Austria-Hungary border at Lake Neusiedl from one side into another. The situation is fluid. Nature rules this cross border relationship more than bureaucracy or diplomacy. This forced Austria and Hungary to come together long before the iron curtain fell. A cross-border commission was established in 1956. The two nations have cooperated on management of the lake ever since then. Cooperation replaced conflict because it was in both countries’ self-interest. It still is today.

Shared Interests – Calming The Waters

Lake Neusiedl can be seen as a metaphor for the relationship between Austria and Hungary. It is prone to bouts of turbulence, but shared interests make it manageable. Relations between them have been so good, for so long, that the past seems more distant than ever before. ?The Iron Curtain and border control no longer exist. The lake is open and accessible to all comers. Anyone can now visit Lake Neusiedl and that includes me.